Whoa, wait a minute…WTF?? Now Roy Roberts is staying on as Emergency Manager for DPS for up to six months?

Two weeks ago Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Roy Roberts surprised everyone when he said he had decided to step down from the job. I, for one, was thrilled. He was even quoted in the Detroit News as saying that he didn’t have any business in DPS. Truer words were never spoken, and here they are exactly:

“If I’m wanted on a computer or by phone, I will be of help from afar… but I have no business inside the school district,” Roberts said Thursday after announcing his decision to step down.

So just like that, eh Roy? After all that bluster and bravado and windbaggery flapping your lips about all these things you were gonna do for (to) Detroit Public Schools, proclaiming yourself to be the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing Oz in control of your very own imaginary Wonderland where Roy Rules, you suddenly ran outta wind and decided now was a good time to exit stage left. Why, you even said that you had been considering retiring for quite some time now, Roy, which I find, well…hell….

What does one say exactly when one simply cannot believe this s—?

Interestingly enough, this comes just a week or so after it was discovered that the Educational Achievement Authority sorta kinda ‘borrowed’ $6 million from DPS to help cover its bills. It did this without alerting the Detroit Public School Board, and without alerting the board members of the EAA. Sorta kinda illegal. From the Detroit Free Press:

“The security concerns come on the heels of accusations against the EAA from Rep. Ellen Cogen Lipton, a Democrat from Huntington Woods, who said the EAA had stalled and charged her $2,642.05 for documents she requested under the Freedom of Information Act last month. Lipton released the information this week, including documents that show that Detroit Public Schools took out loans through +the Michigan Finance Authority’s state aid note program and gave the money to the the EAA to pay its bills.”

Strangely enough it is Roberts who has been overseeing both DPS as Emergency Manager while also remaining a board member on the EAA.

But now, in a decision reversal that is enough to give anyone whiplash, Roberts says he himself put in a request to Gov. Snyder to allow him to come back and serve for another six months. For the sake of the children of course. And, of course, Snyder graciously ‘allowed’ Roberts to return. Probably because he’s been begging, arm-twisting and borderline threatening Roberts to come back ever since the day he said he was outta here. So what if he was involved in a questionable financial transaction? So what id his position as Emergency Manager and board member of the EAA pose a serious conflict of interest? Snyder is the last person to be worried about appearances.

Roy Roberts, emergency manager for Detroit Public Schools, will delay his retirement and stay on the job up to six additional months, Gov. Rick Snyder announced Wednesday morning.

Roberts, 72, said his last day was to be on Thursday, after two years of leading the turnaround of the state’s largest school district, which has been plagued by financial woes, constant enrollment declines and historically low test scores.

But Wednesday morning, Roberts announced to his staff in a letter that he asked the governor to stay longer to bring the current school year to a close and to help with preparation for the new school year this fall.

“Many of you are probably asking yourselves why I requested this contract extension. My answer is really quite simple, and is the reason I took this job in the first place — it’s about educating the children of Detroit,” Roberts said in the letter.

So if this decision of yours to stay is for the kids, Roy, then what exactly was it about two weeks ago when you left because you had no business inside the school district?